NASA's Psyche spacecraft successfully completed a close flyby of Mars on May 15, 2026, returning stunning images of the planet. The spacecraft approached within 2,864 miles (4,609 kilometers) of the Martian surface, capturing detailed images of features such as the double-ringed Huygens crater and the water-ice-rich south polar cap. Researchers noted the unique perspective of Mars as a thin crescent and observed sunlight scattering through the planet's dusty atmosphere, creating a bright glow. This flyby not only provided valuable data for calibrating Psyche's multispectral cameras but also increased the spacecraft's speed by approximately 1,000 mph (1,600 km/h). The mission, which launched on October 13, 2023, is on a trajectory to reach the metal-rich asteroid 16 Psyche in August 2029. This asteroid, located in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, is thought to be the exposed core of a planetesimal and contains abundant metals valued at many quadrillions of dollars, although there are currently no plans for extraction.